Following the conclusion of the 2024 US presidential election, the social network Bluesky has been expanding quickly. Since the November election, the site has gained over 12 million members, and by January 15, it had over 27.5 million users. Mark Hamill, a star of Star Wars, just joined the website and called himself a “Twitter quitter.” Additionally, New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the first individual to amass more than one million followers on the network. With the exception of the company’s account, that is the first for any Bluesky account. There are currently 1.2 million followers of Ocasio-Cortez.
The site’s stats are tracked by at least two dynamic counters made by Bluesky users. Theo Sanderson, a professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, provided one counter; another
counter is created by a member on the website who goes by Natalie.
See also: How to Locate and Make Bluesky Starter Packs
In an email last month, a firm spokesperson stated that during the time immediately following the election, the site had attracted more than one million members every day. About 12 new users are added per second at that rate. In September, there were 9 million users; now, there are 27 million.
Even while Bluesky is growing, there is still room for the website to overtake rivals. As of September, X has 588 million users worldwide, down from 611 million in April, according to Forbes. With over 275 million daily users, Threads is Meta’s rival to X.
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Many Bluesky members are making reference to the election in their initial postings, but it’s impossible to tell how many new users departed because of Elon Musk, the owner of X, publicly endorsing President-elect Donald Trump. According to Wired, a significant portion of Taylor Swift’s fan base—which was previously quite prevalent on X—is moving to Bluesky.
The social networking site Bluesky is quite similar to X, which was originally known as Twitter. X had several modifications following Elon Musk’s purchase of the
site, restored previously blocked users, launched a new subscription service, and eliminated the old blue checkmarks that indicated confirmed accounts.
X said it was altering its block feature, which let users prevent other people from reading their conversations on the website, on October 16. If a person’s postings are set to public, blocked accounts can now view them on X, but they are unable to like, react, or repost them. X user “That’s not blocking,” he said. “That’s supporting stalking.”
Bluesky said in a post the next day, October 17, that it had received 500,000 visitors in a single day. One Bluesky user commented, “First day here,” in response to the business’s post about its expansion. “I’m just getting soaked. Was
a longstanding Twitter user, but it’s only a shadow of its former self.”
Additionally, X changed its terms of service to require that any user-filed lawsuits against the service be heard in a federal court in north Texas “whose judges frequently deliver victories to conservative litigants in political cases,” according to The Globe and Mail.
These recent developments could have contributed to the increase in interest in Bluesky, which earlier this year witnessed a spike in user accounts when Brazilian judges barred X (the block was ultimately restored after X paid a fine). Users claim that Bluesky is the app that most closely resembles X, according to The New York Times.
See also: Bluesky Is the Tiny Solace I’ve Been Seeking
For. I hope it endures.
Here are some essential facts regarding Bluesky.
How can I register?
Simply make an account on the main page to join. You may use Bluesky on your PC or download the Bluesky app for iOS or Android.
In order to provide an authentication code, it will need your phone number and email address. You will then be prompted to select a username and password. Then you’re in.
In what ways does Bluesky resemble X and Threads?
You should understand Bluesky’s design and intent if you’re used to X.
The website employs messages that scroll vertically, with users’ little round photo avatars and symbols beneath the words that indicate the number of likes, comments, and reposts they have gotten. It appears
Quite similar to the structure of X and Meta’s Threads, now the second-best free app on the App Store behind Bluesky.
See also: Is It Time to Stop Using X on Twitter? This Is How
Who is responsible?
Another Twitter/X relationship is as follows: In 2019, while serving as Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, a co-founder of the company, started the Bluesky project. He had previously served on the board of directors. The CEO of Bluesky is Jay Graber.
X’s previous name is even connected to Bluesky’s. According to a Bluesky user, Dorsey confirmed that the name alludes to Twitter’s bird mascot, which is thought to be able to fly even more freely in an open blue sky. In May, Dorsey departed the board, reportedly due to the addition of moderating tools by the site.
Even though the name
does not capitalize the letter “sky,” but rather pronounces it “blue sky.” It should not be rhymed with “brewski.”
The app is based on a social media architecture called the authenticated transport protocol, or AT, which was developed by the firm and consists of a network of several websites.
What makes Bluesky unique?
Domains as handles
For starters, if you’d like, you may make your domain your handle. Verification might be aided by this. After Musk started deleting blue checkmarks from verified accounts that refused to pay a monthly subscription, the matter became contentious for Twitter.
According to the Bluesky Social corporate blog, “A newsroom like NPR could set their handle to be @npr.org.” “Then, any reporters that NPR desires
Subdomains might be used to set their handles to @name.npr.org in order to confirm. Additionally, brand accounts might use their handle as their domain.
Moderation Moderation is distinct as well. Bluesky already uses automatic moderation, according to another blog post, and includes a community labeling system that is “something similar to shared mute/block lists.”
Although you can control that by following or blocking specific accounts, users of many social media platforms are shown posts from a feed that is chosen for them by an algorithm. But Bluesky aims to give you the option to choose what you see using a number of different algorithms.
You may mute accounts, which prohibits you from receiving any alerts or top-level posts from them, or you
has the ability to block accounts, which goes one step further and prevents you and the other account from seeing or responding to each other’s postings. Additionally, you may report abusive posts or accounts. Users who were dissatisfied with X’s recent change in blocking behavior could be especially interested in the blocking option.
In order to prevent pile-ons and other harmful conduct, you can disconnect your posts from other users’ posts that quote you and conceal responses to your posts.
Maintaining relationships Even if Bluesky undergoes changes, creators who gain a following on the platform may eventually be able to maintain relationships with their followers.
In order to follow the individuals you
went after, the third-party A free program called Sky Follower Bridge looks through your list of followers and follows accounts on Bluesky that share the same name. Although there will be many dormant Bluesky accounts and a few false positives, overall we’ve found it to be highly effective.
The rules that dictate how material is sorted and suggested to consumers are known as custom feed algorithms. Custom feeds are a feature offered by Bluesky that lets you select the algorithm that decides what you view.
“Imagine you want your timeline to only be posts from your mutuals, or only posts that have cat photos, or only posts related to sports — you can simply pick your feed of choice from an open marketplace,” an article on the website.
says. More information regarding algorithmic choosing and bespoke feeds may be found in a lengthy post. To add and find new feeds, click the hashtag symbol at the bottom of the app.
The website offers a feed generator starter kit for developers to use to generate bespoke feeds, and it says that soon the tools will be simple enough for the rest of us to use.
Initial packets
Do you want to follow a well picked list of individuals and go straight into Bluesky? You have the option to follow starter packs, which are user-generated lists that are typically themed. CNET has a detailed explanation here, but to put it briefly, they are comparable to what X refers to as lists and are an excellent method to start a reliable feed that serves
your passions.
Read more: Bluesky Makes It Simple to Locate Your Favorites on X (Twitter). How to Do It
Who is it being used by?
The following is a brief list of some of the individuals and organizations who post on Bluesky.
Mark Hamill, star of Star Wars
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep.
Dionne Warwick, a pop legend
Lizzo, a singer
Ben Stiller, actor; Guillermo del Toro, director
Dril, the X personality (actual name: Paul Dochney)
Senator of the United States for Minnesota Smith, Tina
Stephen King, author, humor website The Original EGOT of Onions Web cartoonist Randall Monroe, often known as XKCD; author Colson Whitehead; George Takei, star of Star Trek; Barbra Streisand; and Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the WWW
Drew Carey is an actor and game-show host.
Drew Magary, author and Defector writer
The New York